Ignoble
by hey-oh
Summary: Pollination Technician 9 looks back on the things he did in his curious profession, and the things he left behind when he arrived in Strangetown.


I tell you what, Maxis made some _crazy _bloodlines with this one.

Google the main character; it'll help if you don't understand. Not entirely satisfied with the work, but it's better than what the first draft was. Feedback greatly appreciated.

Don't own, get over it.

* * *

She found him sprawled on the backyard's lawn, shoes tucked neatly beside him in the grass, legs spread out and one hand under his head as he gazed upwards. She paced on the grass, feeling the coolness of the blades beneath her feet, until she was leaning right over him. For a moment, he stared at her eyes—she at his—and then she quietly sat down next to him. He shifted and she pillowed her head on his chest.

For a long moment, they were silent. Something warned Jenny Smith not to speak as she and her green-skinned husband lay on the ground watching the night past before them. He sighed, and she exhaled gently on the fabric of his shirt, feeling its roughness beneath her fingers. His free hand found hers after a minute. His body tensed and then relaxed.

"Polly." Jenny used the pet name for her husband that she'd given him years ago, when they first met. "My love…what are you thinking about?"

He sighed, and she heard the breath whistling out of his curiously small nose in a high whine. "Jenny…you can't…" He paused for a long, dangerous moment, and Jenny pointed right as a shooting star burned out across their vision. Pollination Technician 9 let the moment drag as long as he could, but eventually he knew that she would want answers. He supposed she should know the truth; Jenny was Curious, after all, and she wouldn't stop searching for the answers to her questions. When a thought hit her mind, she chased it to the end.

"I used to see the stars as a new beginning. When I was assigned to my—duties—I'd hoped it would be a bit…more fulfilling than it actually was. It was everything I'd hoped for, don't misunderstand. Being a Pollinator is one of the most competitive and most prestigious jobs that my…that…can be obtained. Doing that means that you're making the ultimate sacrifice; you're putting your body on the line for the survival of the species. It's an honor. It's really an honor. But now…I keep thinking about all the innocent lives over the years that I've hurt. There are so many of them across countless worlds, Jenny."

He sighed and pulled out of her embrace as he continued stargazing. She pulled herself off the ground and wound her arms around his chest. He leaned back into her embrace, feeling her breath on his neck as she ghosted kisses along the nape of his thin neck.

"Pollinating is such a painful and invasive process, and it's almost like my species thrives on the pain that it causes others. Your species, Jenny…my love…they are not nearly so harsh. You have no war here. You have no suffering unless your income is disallowed, you have hardly any crime and your people are friendly and welcoming to anyone. That's why I picked your planet to live. It is so…peaceful."

Jenny sighed and breathed in the scent of her husband. When she spoke, her voice was a bit hoarse from sitting silent in the chilly desert air.

"My father remembered you, you know. He knew you immediately, even though I know that you looked different in those days."

Pollination Technician 9 looked back at her as best as he could, the light from the stars reflected in his eyes. "He remembered me?"

Jenny nodded. "He knew. He warned me about you. He said that he couldn't bear to see his only daughter marry the man who pollinated him. His anger was…great when he found out. He nearly threw me out of the house."

Pollination Technician 9 nodded and turned back to the stars. "I wondered what he would think. I never forget a face. It seems that our paths never crossed again."

They sat back to front for a long while, and Jenny couldn't help but pull him gently into a kiss that sent shivers racing through both their bodies. She couldn't remember when she'd met her husband, but she was still in love with him now as she was then.

"…darling, you're different," Jenny replied to the unspoken question, "and no matter what you say about pollination, it can't be half as bad as you say. Daddy didn't come off scarred, you know."

He laughed a short chuckle that sounded like two rocks beating each other in an ocean; his vocal cords had never adapted to an actual Simlish laugh. "Your species is remarkably resilient, you know. They bounce back fast, and even though your father abandoned your pollinated sisters for a more normal family with you and your brothers, he was not damaged. It is a tenet of my people to only pollinate those that take an interest in what lies above, else I think there would be very many more of my kind walking about here in your society."

His expression soon dimmed and he again found himself looking up at the stars. He couldn't help but wonder if any of his people were watching him now; retirement to a planet that wasn't the home world was uncommon, but not unheard of. Truth be told, his circumstances were very different.

He blinked his dark eyes and looked back at her. "I wish I could show you what I'd done, my love, because I did unspeakable things. I hurt and tortured dozens of men, all in the name of my species' science. I set down one, sometimes two, of my kin in each encounter across hundreds of planet, and we do not return for them. They will never know me other than as the father of their genetics. It does not matter, though; they will eventually spread to overtake the world in which they have been pollinated. That is how my race works. We are not as advanced as yours mentally, I think. We are violent and cruel. I retired here because I could not stand it anymore!" He broke down into tears.

Jenny smiled as she nuzzled the nape of her husband's neck. "You are not limited by your past actions, you know. You can rise above them. You have risen above them. Just look what you have done for this town! You built it yourself. It was dying, and you revived it. That alone is worthwhile."

"Your view is so limited—stuck only in this town, this neighborhood! I have seen a hundred worlds, each more different than the last, and I have contributed to their downfall. Why can you not see this?" Pollination Technician snarled.

Jenny shrugged. "I only see you, and I only see what you have done for me and my town. And you have done great things. The other things are inconsequential. They don't matter."

"They matter to _me," _he muttered, but he was beginning to see her point, no matter how much he didn't want to. He didn't want to face the truth that he had done good, even if not everyone in the town was receptive. And this place was a veritable paradise compared to some of the other places he had visited. Was it so hard to think that maybe, it was worth it to forget the past, like she suggested?

He pulled away from her embraced and stood, glancing about the yard.

"Jenny Smith, I love you," he said, "but even you can't rescue me from what I've done. If I ever make it past the Great Barrier that separates me from the rest of my people, I will atone for what I've done."

Jenny reached up and took one of his hands. "Polly," she replied, using his pet name, "what's really bothering you about it? This isn't like you."

He stopped his forward motion and looked down at her. "I wish I could fix it. Make it better. This place is so idyllic, and some of the planets where I placed my own people, my own sons and daughters, are rife with danger and fraught with disaster. Why did I have to leave them? Why can I not help them? Please, help me understand," he pleaded.

Jenny shrugged. "Sure, okay, I guess we have it good here. You've earned it, from what you've told me, though, Polly. But if it's not a sin on your world to do what you did, why do you think it's a sin on mine?"

"Because." He stopped. "Because I want to protect you from it. Two of your own brothers activated the signals and were taken by my kin and pollinated. I simply want to spare you from that horror."

He reached out and touched her face. She leaned into the touch, eyes closed. He loved her so much and would go to his homeworld, even, to keep her safe from harm.

"Don't worry, my love, I don't need to be pollinated. I have you instead." She smiled and clasped her free hand with his. "Come on, let's stop thinking about these things. Besides, I know of something more fun we could do with our time…" she Suggested.

Pollination Technician 9 smiled lewdly. "Alright, my dear, go on ahead. I'll meet you in a minute; let me make sure the gate is locked."

Jenny smiled and climbed the steps to the deck, soon disappearing into the house; the screen door to the kitchen shut with a snap. She didn't notice that her husband returned to the grass and she didn't notice him toying with a small silver object in his pocket; a leftover tool from his working days. She was blissful and innocent, like the rest of SimNation, and she only focused on what she Wanted from life. She was unaware of the acute danger that Pollination Technicians presented. They were feral, unforgiving and took a perverse pleasure in the activities they performed on the males—and only the males—of the species they pollinated. Her husband had been one of the best.

He stood for a long moment looking at the stars. Sure, she thought she had convinced him that he was in the right, but he most certainly wasn't. He couldn't fight his nature, after all, and he was a Pollination Technician to his core. He'd chosen not to take the call of his Queen when he retired, but that didn't mean he'd stopped hearing it.

His people were out there, and all it took was one signal…

Pollination Technician turned and went back inside his house. Tonight, at least, he was content.


End file.
